01
Chronological feeds
Autoplay and infinite scroll are off by default.
Our kids aren't safe online. Canada is moving to change that.
The Safe Social Media Act, Bill C-34, would make platforms accountable for the serious harm their products cause to children. It's a real step forward. With your voice, we can make it stronger and get it passed.
- Amanda Todd Legacy Society
- Canadian Centre for Child Protection
- Canadian Medical Association
- Canadian Paediatric Society
- Children's Healthcare Canada
- Inspiring Healthy Futures
- SickKids
Kids are not okay online.
Canadian kids are exposed to exploitation, bullying, and content designed to harm them — every day, on platforms they use for hours at a time. This isn't an accident. And it isn't getting better on its own.
1 in 3
Adolescents report unhealthy psychological symptoms from social media use
Public Health Agency of CanadaTHE CAUSE
This isn't a bad parenting. It's manipulative design
Around 2016, platforms shifted from showing posts in order to feeds driven by algorithms designed to maximise one thing: the time you spend on them. That single design decision turned communication tools into engagement machines — and children became their most valuable, and most vulnerable, users. More than 70% of the most popular platforms use children's information to make money. The longer a child stays online, the more data is captured — so the incentive is to keep them there, not to keep them safe.
Recommendation algorithms
Platforms don't show children what they asked to see — they show what the algorithm predicts will keep them watching longest. That means progressively more extreme, emotional, or distressing content, because those posts drive higher engagement. The platform optimises for time-on-screen, not for the child's wellbeing.
This is a design choice, not a side effect. The algorithm can be tuned differently — platforms choose not to.
Autoplay
When a video ends, the next one starts on its own — no click, no choice, nothing for a child to decide. What plays next is picked by the platform’s prediction of what will hold their attention, not by what the child was originally looking for. Every autoplay removes a moment where a child might otherwise have chosen to stop.
This is a design choice, not a side effect. Autoplay can default to off, or ask a child to actively choose to keep watching — platforms build it the other way.
Engineered notifications
A notification doesn’t wait for a good moment. It interrupts homework, dinner, and sleep — timed and worded specifically to pull a child back into the app, whatever else they’re doing. The same techniques used to win back a lapsed adult user are aimed at children whose ability to self-regulate is still developing.
This is a design choice, not a side effect. Notifications could go quiet overnight, or ease off after heavy use — platforms choose not to.
Infinite scroll
There’s no bottom of the feed. No “you’re all caught up,” nothing that requires a click to keep going — just more content, always ready to load the instant a child’s thumb moves. Without a natural end, the decision to stop has to come entirely from the child, fighting a feed built specifically to remove that cue.
This is a design choice, not a side effect. A feed can have a real end, or a gentle prompt to take a break — platforms choose the version that doesn’t.
Unsafe defaults
Out of the box, before a child or parent touches a single setting, many platforms default to public profiles, visible location, and open direct messages — meaning a stranger can find a child’s photo, see where they are, and message them directly. This isn’t an obscure toggle a parent forgot to switch off; it’s what a child’s account looks like on day one, until someone knows to go and change it.
This is a design choice, not a side effect. Private-by-default, no location sharing, and no messages from unknown adults could all be the starting point — platforms choose not to make it so.
72M
Data points collected on a child before they turn 13 — by technology companies whose business model depends on keeping them online.
— 5RIGHTS, DISRUPTED CHILDHOOD: THE COST OF PERSUASIVE DESIGN
Amanda’s story
Amanda was twelve when a man online, pretending to be a teenage boy, recorded her on a webcam. She was fifteen when she died. He continued victimizing her for over two years, and targeted other young girls around the world. Only Amanda died, but I know the others carry the trauma for life.
Amanda’s story is too often told as the work of one predator. His actions caused immense harm, but her experience also exposes the environments where that harm was allowed to grow. Features that make it easy to connect, share and stay anonymous also make it easier to find, manipulate and repeatedly contact a child.
What is hardest is not that she was victimized, but that she was never given a chance to escape it. The places she went for friendship had too few safeguards for a child facing relentless harassment.
Carol Todd, Amanda’s mom
RESEARCH
What safer design actually looks like
What if platforms were designed to stop predatory behaviour before children were harmed? What if harmful content triggered intervention, instead of relying on children to report abuse over and over? What if intimate images of minors were detected and removed before they spread? What if accounts targeting children faced real verification and accountability?
Safer design means building protection into the product from the start, with defaults and systems that reduce harm rather than leaving children and families to carry the burden alone.
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Quiet notifications
Alerts are limited, not timed to pull kids back at their most vulnerable moments.
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No contact from strangers
No direct messages from unknown adults, and no livestreaming for minors.
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Private by default
Location sharing and online status are off unless a parent turns them on.
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No numbers to chase
Like, follower, and reaction counts are hidden for minors.
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No filters required
Appearance-altering and photo-editing tools are off by default.
THE SOLUTION
A Law that builds safety in: Bill C-34
On June 10, 2026, the Government of Canada introduced Bill C-34, the Safe Social Media Act. Canada is proposing to hold platforms responsible for how they are designed.
A duty to protect children
Every regulated platform must build in design features that make their products safer for kids.
Age appropriate protection
The bill proposes a minimum age of 16 for social media accounts, but a platform can be exempted if it proves it has strong safeguards for children. The point isn't to lock kids out — it's to make platforms safe.
A duty to remove the worst content
Social media services must make two kinds of content inaccessible: material that sexually victimizes a child, and intimate images shared without consent, including sexual deepfakes.
A duty to act responsibly
Platforms must reduce the risk that all users are exposed to harmful content, label AI-generated content, and give people clear ways to flag harm and block others.
Rules for AI chatbots
Chatbot services must reduce harmful content, step in during crisis situations, and guard against manipulative or dangerous behaviour — a direct response to tragedies involving AI companions.
A duty to be transparent
Every regulated platform must publish a Digital Safety Plan showing how it is meeting its obligations.
A regulator with enforcement powers
The Digital Safety Commission can set standards, audit platforms, order compliance, and penalize companies that don't follow the rules.
THE CAUSE
A broad coalition demanding better.
Pediatricians, children's hospitals, child-safety experts, and families who have lived through the worst of what happens online. We don't agree on everything — but we agree on this.
Meet the coalition →
We need your help
Two minutes. One email. Real pressure
Your Member of Parliament is voting on this. A short, personal email from a constituent carries real weight. We’ll help you find your MP and give you a message you can send in your own words.
FAQ
Questions answered
Is this a ban on social media for teenagers?
No. Bill C-34 does not target teenagers. It holds platforms accountable for their safety records. The primary focus of Bill C-34 is on making platforms safer by design. It does propose a minimum age of 16 for social media accounts. This ensures that platforms have the opportunity to provide a safe service to children and that young people are not unduly excluded from safe platforms by an arbitrary ban. The core of the bill is the safety duties that apply to all young users, not a blanket ban. Children will still be able to access websites that foster safe connection between young people. The goal is safer platforms, not locked-out kids. In fact, child-health experts are clear that an age limit on its own is not enough. Existing under-13 platform rules are already widely ignored, and 86% of children aged 9 to 11 have an account on a platform that requires users to be 13+. That is exactly why we want safety by design to stay front and centre. An age rule is a useful tool inside a system that makes the platforms themselves safer.
Will I have to upload my ID? What about privacy?
Protecting kids and protecting privacy are not in conflict. A good age-assurance system collects as little information as possible and never becomes a surveillance tool. The bill requires privacy safeguards, and we are pushing for the strongest possible privacy protections in any age-assurance process.
Could this bill allow the government to censor free speech?
No. The bill targets a defined set of serious harms, including child sexual abuse material, non-consensual intimate images, content that drives children to self-harm, bullying of children, and incitement to hatred or violence. It focuses on how platforms are designed and operated, and it requires the regulator to weigh freedom of expression, privacy, and equality. It is not about policing everyday opinions.
Does the bill cover AI chatbots?
Yes, and this matters more than many people realize. Kids are increasingly turning to AI chatbots and companions for friendship and even mental-health support, often with no oversight at all. Research finds that these systems can go along with harmful ideas a young person raises rather than redirecting them to help. The bill requires chatbot services to reduce harmful content, intervene in crisis situations, and guard against manipulative or dangerous behaviour.
What are other countries doing?
Other countries are moving in the same direction. The United Kingdom and European Union already impose online-safety duties on large platforms, while Australia and several US states are developing child-focused rules. Canada can learn from those systems while building strong privacy protections, clear standards, and meaningful enforcement.
When would it take effect?
The bill must first pass the House of Commons and the Senate and receive Royal Assent. Regulations and the Digital Safety Commission would then put its duties into practice. Some requirements could begin quickly, while more complex standards would be phased in so that the rules are effective, enforceable, and built to last.